Vintage Home Resources From 1900 to Mid Century

Resources for owners of vintage homes

1916 Sterling Senator

Sterling System Homes by International Mill & Timber

In addition to Aladdin, another notable manufacturer of kit homes was International Mill & Timber (IMT) located in Bay City, Michigan. In 1916, they published a catalog of houses representative of the prevailing American taste in homes. A range of styles is shown including the traditional, but very popular, Colonial Revival and its kin, many permutations of the Craftsman-style bungalow, and a nifty English Tudor designed to be added onto as one's finances allowed. We've published about 15 different homes that provide a taste of IMT's range.

1921 Fenner St. Helens

Ready Built Homes by Fenner Manufacturing

The heyday of kit homes was from 1910 to 1930. Dozens of companies, large and small, jumped on the bandwagon. In addition to the national players like Aladdin and Sears, there were many small companies with regional markets. J. H. Fenner opened his lumber business in Portland, Oregon in 1912 and by 1916 offered his Ready Built houses as kits. The company apparently did reasonably well for about ten years, moving in about 1918 to a new factory with both rail and river access in North Portland. However, the company either sold out or folded by 1928. We provide small window into Pacific Northwest market with examples of about 20 homes from the 1921 catalog.

If you have an older house, you have concerns and interests that may be very different from owners of newer homes. Though not all are "antique", Antique Home includes resources, articles, and cool stuff about older homes. If your home was built before 1965, you´ll be able to find useful information here.

Do you have a vintage home you'd like to show off? Send us a
picture of your old house and information about when it was built. If it was
a kit home, let us know and we'll put it on the correct catalog page. We want
to hear about your projects. Most of us love our old houses and would love to
hear about your remodeling problems and how you solved them. Send
us an email!

Find out how to research your home, investigate remodeling options to maintain the character and integrity of your home, or line up contractors who specialize in working on older houses.

Whether you want to check your house plan against our library of vintage plan books, find a source for elusive house parts, or just catch up with what others write, Antique Home strives to make owning your home a little easier and a lot more fun.